Chapter II: Hyacinth
by SumiOten
Summary: Hyacinth has been through a lot the past couple of months. tragedy struck and now she lives in a forest, alone. She is having a normal day, trying to get a meal to eat, when . . . Read Chapter II: Hyacinth to see what happens next!


II

**HYACINTH'S MORNING WAS GOING** perfectly fine before a bloodthirsty, Spanish donkey almost killed her.

It was just any other day—searching for food, climbing trees, building shelter—the usual. Hyacinth had been living in the woods for over a year now. Most people would think it can't be too hard living in such a peaceful place, but it took some serious survival skills. If you were lucky enough to find some water bottles to deposit, you might be able to buy some fast food, though it is a little awkward paying the cashier with a bunch of dimes.

Don't get started on shelter. Try living in a forest in the middle of nowhere making a waterproof, windproof, and any-other-bad-situation-proof place to live, and you'll know what it's like.

It was a sunny morning, with rays of light shining through a hole in Hyacinth's tent. Her light blond hair gleamed in the daylight. She stretched in the sunlight. The birds' songs and sun's light made her feel so—_alive_. She didn't know why, but being under the sun gave her the chills and made blood rush through her body. Hyacinth climbed a tree, to set up a new trap. She was so hungry, she almost felt empty. Hyacinth climbed up a tree and tied the last of her rope to a net. Guiltily, she stole a pale blue egg from a bird's nest. She shook it. Hyacinth taught herself to know the good and bad eggs in a bird's nest. Hey, when you live in a forest, there's not much to do.

"Hey, kid! What'd' think you're doin'?" A raspy voice called.

Hyacinth reached for her dagger. "Who? What?" she looked around her. A single crow perched on a branch. "I'm right here! Stop messin' with my nest, you buffoon!"

Hyacinth stood, balancing herself on the branch. "How dare you insult me... For I am the great god Artemis!" She stood. Of course, she wasn't actually Artemis. She always imitated the gods. It was the only thing she could actually learn about, without getting all of her words mixed up. It reminded her of her mom, who used to tell her stories about the gods every day.

The crow cursed. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Sorry, your majesty. I was just—"

"I will spare you this once. Now get out of my sight, you bird!" Hyacinth interrupted.

The crow flew away. She smirked, tying a knot. Hyacinth never knew why she could communicate with some animals—crows, deer, snakes—perhaps she was jus hallucinating from hunger.

_Finally done._ Hyacinth sighed. She swung from branch to branch like a monkey, and marched off. She walked to a nearby pond. She splashed the water onto her face and dried her it on her sleeve. She heard something over by her tent. Hyacinth silently swung from tree to tree until she got a good look at what it was. She'd heard lots of noises in the forest, but something told her this was important...or she was just seeing things, again. Her head peeked out from behind a maple tree. There was a gigantic, funny-looking pig sniffing around by her trap.

_Just a little closer..._Hyacinth thought. It would be her first meal in about 30 hours, and a wild pig would be a nice treat. It would last her—at the rate of how much she's been eating lately—a week, not including the fat, bones...all of that gross stuff. _Maybe two weeks, if it doesn't spoil. After all, it's the biggest boar I've ever seen_ She wondered. There was a _whoosh_ through the air, followed by the crunch of leaves and cries of Hyacinth's breakfast.

Hyacinth cautiously nudged her trap over. She almost screamed at the sight of the... _thing_. It was something four-legged and furry... a...donkey? Hyacinth inched closer. Yeah, it was a donkey. Great. "Are donkeys edible?" she mumbled, clenching her stomach. The mule-thing was unconscious, its mouth gaping like a banshee. _What the—where did—huh?_ Thoughts raced through her head. Wherever it came from, it took one hard hit on the noggin. Hyacinth decided to show pity and took it back to her campout.

Newly dubbed "Thing" woke up as the sun hit the horizon. The mule stood, as if without effort. Hyacinth still didn't know how the heck it got in a forest, but she didn't even care at that point. Thing glared at her. "Um...hi?" Hyacinth said. Thing's eyes started glowing red; as it started to..._change_. Hyacinth grabbed her axe. She'd seen some crazy things, but she couldn't believe her eyes.

Somehow, Thing turned into a creature that _had_ to be the scariest thing Hyacinth's ever seen. It had the back and legs of a mule, but the rest of it was scaly with the paws of a lion. Its face looked like a maiden's, but with glowing red eyes and—the weirdest of them all—her hair was made of flickering orange flames. When she smiled, two large fangs would stick out like she was saying "Come closer, I only want to eat you."

"Dicere vale, puella." Thing said.

"Non hodie." Hyacinth didn't even know she could speak Spanish—or whatever it was. She lifted her double-axe. Hyacinth ran and screamed, like a warrior. As soon as she was within a foot of the creature, it pounced into a tree. She bared her fangs for a moment, and then Hyacinth could feel her cold breath on the side of her neck.

"Sum esurientem te lenior desiderabilem cenam, non?" Thing whispered.

Hyacinth could hear her voice echo in English in her head. It was something about eating her, but Hyacinth started drifting away. _Maybe I could just let her eat me... after all, she is hungry..._

"No..." Hyacinth mumbled

"Sic, puella, sic." Thing opened her mouth

"Get...GET OFF!" Hyacinth screamed. Hyacinth elbowed her away, and then swung her axe with enough force to make Thing go flying.

"Habere via, stultus puella!" Thing hissed. Golden ichors dripped from her body.

Thing pounced on her. She was nailed down; her axe slid away from them. Thing angrily bared her fangs, ready to feast on her blood. Just when Hyacinth thought it was over, something inside her told her to do the craziest thing.

Hyacinth whistled. Light from the sun came from all different directions, in a magnificent silvery-gold color. It seemed to wrap around Thing, pulling her apart slowly.

"If you think I'm going to be murdered by a vampire lizard-donkey, you've lost you're mind." Hyacinth gestured her hand toward her axe. It came into her hand like a magnet to a fridge. She took a leap of faith into the air and swung her double-axe through Thing. Golden ichor was everywhere— in the trees, on the ground, on Hyacinth's stuff—great. Hyacinth tried to get up, but that last trick she tried _really_ drained the energy out of her. She was exhausted. She could feel the burning pain of where the monster's claws cut her. Blood dripped down her arm.

The last thing she remembered was an orange glow bursting out from above her. Before Hyacinth could look up, she blacked out.

Out of nowhere, she was back to that night. It was the worst day of her 12-year-old life. She was running. There was thunder booming and lightning flashing in the sky. A giant monster chasing after her, but this time it wasn't the monster. It was a boy, about her age, hysterical crying. She had muted brown hair and large hazel eyes. The kid was pale and tall. There was a gashing wound across his chest.

"Help. Please help me." He said, softly. "I don't want to be like this anymore. I _can't_." He said.

Hyacinth stopped. In the background, her house was half-gone. It was completely destroyed. The boy fell onto the ground. He was just as bad as Hyacinth's home—a total mess. Hyacinth tried to help her up, but she said "No. I can't hurt you anymore. I can't hurt anyone anymore." He was lying in a pool of his own blood. "It's okay! I can help you!" Hyacinth chanted. Before she could get back up, everything was starting to get hazy; the nightmare changed.

Suddenly, she was at her old house. The scent of tea and that dusty old-book smell filled the air. It was quiet, and though she should've felt welcomed and comfortable, Hyacinth felt a little unsettled—like something was going to pop out at her. The place was practically a library. Uncomfortable couches and chairs and a wall covered with books. Hyacinth looked down. A poetry book lay in her lap. The first page had something written on it, but the rest of the book was blank. It said: "One more strike the gods will make/ For all of humanity will be at stake/ Beware the new threat that will arise/ There will be no need for any allies"

"It's a prophecy." Hyacinth muttered. She realized the rest of the page was ripped out. Before she could look at the cover, a fiery arrow shot through the book, about an inch away from her nose. The book burst into flames, and exploded right in front of her face.

"What the heck?" She stood, clearing the smoke out of her face.

Some guy stood across the room from Hyacinth. He was a man, had to be in his 30's, with a slight tan and bleach blonde hair like Hyacinth's. He chuckled for a moment. Looking at his teeth could've blinded the sun itself. The man wore tan khaki shorts, sunglasses, and a T-shirt that said "MUSIC IS LIFE". He looked like he'd fell asleep on the beach, besides the fact he was holding an archery bow, along with fiery arrows in a tube-thing on his back.

"Who are you? Get out of my house. I'm reading."

"This is no time for reading, Hyacinth. This isn't even your house anymore, remember?" his voice sounded like a soft melody, and was strangely kind of soothing. "Anyway, I'll answer your question. I am lord of light, the great god Apollo!" He raised his bow and smiled, as if waiting for applause.

"Oh. Hi. I'm Hyacinth, the greatest warrior—"

Before she could finish, Apollo reappeared next to Hyacinth. "I know who you are, Hyacinth."

"What are you, a stalker?"

Apollo looked at her quizzically. "I have been watching over you, yes, but certainly not _stalking_."

"Why would you do that? Why am I even thinking about you this is _my_ dream! Now shoo, I need my peace." She flipped through the pages of the destroyed book. Hyacinth glanced up at him.

"Hyacinth, you may not be aware of this, but the Greek gods, like myself, are _real_. All of the legends that your mother has spoken about are very, very true. I am presenting myself to you to claim you, my daughter."

"So you're saying you are my father?"

"Indeed. Therefore, you are half-god. You may have noticed monsters, supernatural abilities, and slight dyslexia before, no? Those are somewhat..._affects _from being a demigod. You are destined to fight those monsters. You are supposed to use your abilities. You will be trained to do this by Chiron at Camp Half-Blood." Apollo gazed into Hyacinth's blue eyes. "Wait, slow down. China is going to bring me to a camp? Is that even possible?" Hyacinth said

"_Chiron_. He'll show you where your cabin is, give you some clothes, and maybe send you on a quest. He's a nice...part man. You'll see what I mean."

"Oh no. Is he part donkey, too? Like that animal that was supposed to be my dinner?"

"That was an _empusa_. Chiron won't want to drink your blood."

"Yay?" Hyacinth didn't know what to say.

Apollo grinned. "Remember, this is no laughing matter. You can be _killed_. I have been sensing an unfortunate prophecy approaching us. Be cautious, Hyacinth. Be brave. Everything started getting blurry, like in the other vision.

"Are you sure this isn't a dream...? I think it's a dream..." Hyacinth rubbed her eyes. As Apollo chuckled, he turned into a silhouette of light, then shot up and disappeared.

"Bye...dad."

When Hyacinth woke up, an elderly man was dragging her across the forest. He wore a denim brown jacket and a Yankees cap. His tattered blue jeans were covered with mud. He was carrying Hyacinth's backpack with him. In his left hand was a dead trout, and in his right was Hyacinth's foot.

"You awake now? How's that axe of yours doin'?

Hyacinth rubbed her eyes. "Is that you, Bill?"

"Nah. It's just some strang'r draggin' you round in circles. Who'd ya think it was?"

Hyacinth took a sigh of relief. Bill was Hyacinth's only friend. She didn't know anyone else, after all.

"Nice fish you got there."

"Yer darn right it is! Going to go share it with you is what I was doing! But once I saw you, there was some _empusa_ chasin' you round! Why didn't you say you were one of them demigods?"

"Wait, you know about that? The whole Greek god thing?"

"Well, o' course I do! I'm one of them demigods, too!"

"So I'm not the only one?"

"Course not! There's a whole camp of whippersnappers just like you. I'm taking you there right now, in fact. But of course _I_ couldn't go there. Only children of gods with thrones on Olympus go to camp. So me, being a son of Hebe, weren't allowed there. I heard they recently allowed _all_ demigods to live there. The place has got to be packed! Of course, I'm way too old to go there, though. I don't think they'd let a one hundred an' forty eight year old go there." Bill expressed his age casually.

"You're over a century old? How did you live that long?"

"Child, weren't you listenin'? Child of Hebe! She's the goddess of youth! Consider me half-immortal. Just very, very long-living. I'm double the age of what I look like. I still feel like a lil' boy!"

"Wow. So what is this camp, anyway?"

"It's called Camp Half-Blood."


End file.
